Page 21 of Secrets Beneath a Riviera Sky
Agnes turned to Theo as Francine closed the door behind her.
‘If you don’t mind, I think I’ll go to my room for a little while. Have a rest before we go out for pizza. It’s been a tiring day.’
Theo looked at her anxiously. ‘You are okay?’
She nodded. ‘I’m fine. Lots to think about.’
Once upstairs she sat on the bed and taking the letter out of its envelope she read its short message again.
Dear Agnes,
Please can the two of us meet? Alone. There are certain things I would welcome the opportunity to tell you. I have a coffee every morning at eleven o’clock in the cafe by the entrance to the market. Hope to see you there one morning soon.
Rachel Cortez.
Thoughtfully, Agnes tucked the letter back into the envelope and placed it on the bedside table as her thoughts once again took her unwillingly back to the past…
Fifty-three years ago her life had been very different. Francine, born nine months after the wedding and thought of as a honeymoon baby by everyone, was born after a difficult thirty-eight-hour labour when the doctors gently told her this baby would be her only child. Something she had been secretly glad to learn, having no desire to risk a repetition of those long painful hours. The day she’d arrived home from hospital she’d discovered Oscar had moved into the spare bedroom. Guilt accompanied the feeling of relief that flooded through her body on realising that they wouldn’t be sharing a bed. A few weeks later, when the knowledge that Oscar’s ‘playing away’ from home like he had done during her pregnancy and before was continuing, all shreds of guilt disappeared. Life was much easier for her when he was seeing another woman. She knew he had no idea that she was aware of his dalliances, and while she didn’t like or condone his behaviour in any way, if it kept him out of her bed she was happy. Serge Cortez at fifty-one was undoubtedly the right age to be the result of one of Oscar’s liaisons during that difficult time.
Oscar had taken very little notice of baby Francine. He’d wandered into the bedroom one morning and looked at her sleeping quietly in the crib. ‘If only you’d been a boy,’ he’d muttered before glaring at Agnes and leaving. A hands-on father in those early days he was not.
It was several months before things settled down into any semblance of a normal life and Agnes could feel she was finally coping. Theo returned from a successful tour and after an awkward first meeting when Agnes felt her heart would break in two, she managed to hide her feelings. To her surprise, when she hesitantly suggested Theo could be one of Francine’s godfathers, Oscar agreed.
Theo had played an important part in her and Francine’s lives in those days and Agnes would be forever grateful to him for being there for her despite how cruelly she treated him in the end…
Agnes took a deep breath. What to do now though, fifty-odd years later, about this Serge Cortez person? There really was no choice. Rachel Cortez had made a simple enough request to meet her and talk. It could help her to decide whether to do as the notaire wanted and get Francine to do a DNA test or whether to go with her gut feeling that Serge was Oscar’s illegitimate son. She had to meet Rachel Cortez. And despite Francine insisting she would go with her, Agnes knew this was something she wanted to do alone.
Decision made, Agnes stood up. Time to get ready to go out for that pizza. When she went downstairs ten minutes later, Theo was sat at the table in the sitting room working on his laptop.
‘Shall we have a small aperitif while we wait for Francine?’ Theo asked, closing his laptop.
‘A tiny one would be good,’ Agnes smiled at him. She wandered over to look at the bookcase while he poured the drinks.
‘I don’t think either of us were surprised at the news this morning, were we?’ Agnes said quietly as she studied the titles of the books.
‘Non. I think if we’re honest we were both expecting it. Does the name Rachel Cortez mean anything to you?’ Theo said as he handed her a small glass. ‘I do not recognise the name Cortez.’
Agnes nodded. ‘I had a friend called Rachel once. Not a close, close friend but we had lunch together a few times. I think she rented one of Oscar’s properties – maybe it is her? But her surname was Dupont. Perhaps Cortez is her married name.’
‘You will go to meet her like she suggests?’
Agnes gave him a rueful look. ‘How can I not? But I have every intention of going alone, despite what Francine says. So please don’t mention it this evening. I also want to meet Serge. And,’ she took a deep breath, ‘I think tomorrow morning I’d like to go up to the house. Will you come with me?’
‘Of course. You didn’t say anything when Francine talked about going home and then returning in a week or two. Will you go with her if she decides to go?’
Agnes sipped her aperitif. ‘I think we need to find out how long things are likely to take – particularly if we go down the DNA route as the notaire wants us to. But no, I don’t feel inclined to rush back. Now I’m here, I’d rather like to stay for a while – if that’s alright with you?’
‘You know you don’t even have to ask,’ Theo said. ‘You can stay forever if you want to.’ He gave her an inscrutable smile. Agnes returned it with a small shake of her head. She knew just how much he longed for her to do that.
‘Jasmine seems determined to stay down here too. Oh. Now there’s something I wasn’t expecting to see on your bookshelves.’ And Agnes quickly moved away.
‘What?’ Theo looked at the bookshelves and realised instantly what Agnes had referred to. ‘Désolé. I put it there temporarily, and then forgot to move it.’ He reached out and took the urn of ashes off the shelf and placed it out of sight in the built-in cupboard under the stairs.
‘We must have a serious talk about what to do with them some time. Perhaps Francine will have an idea?’ he said as he closed the cupboard door.
‘She’s already suggested throwing the ashes in the Med,’ Agnes said, laughing. ‘Which is as good a suggestion as any, I think. But if Serge Cortez is Oscar’s son – and I have this strong feeling that he is – he may want to be involved in deciding.’
When Agnes told Francine later, as the three of them tucked into pizza at a waterside restaurant, that Theo had agreed to accompany her up to the house the next day, she nodded.
